NBA: James wants to team up with me

Wang Chong and Curry trained in Chicago for a full month in August. This was no secret. The local media in Chicago reported extensively on this, and even a reporter was lucky enough to stop Curry for a small interview.

Although Curry is very immature, he has experienced a lot when facing reporters. After all, he has a former NBA player father.

Although the old Curry is not a star in the NBA, he has averaged 11.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game during his more than ten years of career. He also won the league's best sixth man. Therefore, Curry has grown up in the spotlight since he was a child. , and his basketball talent is also very high. Although he was not favored in the draft, in the final analysis he was selected within the top ten of the lottery. This means that Curry is already among the top ten in the world. One of the famous players.

"Wang Chong invited me to participate in training together. I am honored and lucky to have this opportunity. Wang Chong is a very great player and one of the strongest players in the league today. I have never thought about it before. , I actually had the opportunity to train with him."

"Through this training, I finally understood why Wang Chong is so strong. The effort and hard work he trains is the first time I have seen it in my entire life. I was shocked in the first two days. How could someone train like this?" Desperately? But he did, maybe this is why Wang Chong is so powerful."

When asked about his position with the Bulls in the new season and what kind of performance he expected, Curry did not mention the second main scoring point that Wang Chong promised him, but said very modestly: "The Bulls are a championship-level super team with a complete lineup and a tacit understanding of the players. I hope to quickly integrate into this team and work hard with them to win the championship. Therefore, I accept any job assigned to me by the team. .”

In fact, this question is indeed a question that many people are curious about.

How to determine the Bulls' starting lineup for the new season?

In their view, Curry, who serves as point guard, must be a substitute for Billups. After the Bulls traded James Jones, there is currently a shortage of players at the shooting guard position. Everyone originally thought that the Bulls would take a break in the summer. They introduced a starting shooting guard to fill the gap. However, it is almost September, and the Bulls still have no movement at all, and they have not even assembled a 12-man roster.

No one knows what the Bulls management and Wang Chong are thinking.

Of course, they never expected that Wang Chong actually planned to create a starting lineup with two point guards in the new season.

In early September, the Bulls signed several basic-salary role players in succession, expanding the player list to 9 players, and all gathered to report for the new season's makeup photos.

Originally, the main photoshoot for the new season was still the photo of the Big Three of Wang Chong, Garnett and Billups.

But at Wang Chong's request, four people participated in this shooting. In addition to the Big Three, Curry, a newcomer, was also included.

Curry, who was wearing the No. 30 jersey, had a childish look on his face, and it was obvious that he was a little nervous.

There is no other way, being in the same frame as three seniors who have already made a name for themselves in the league, the pressure can be imagined.

Moreover, Wang Chong's intention in taking the photo was very obvious, and he clearly valued Curry very much. However, while praising Curry, he inevitably put a lot of pressure on him.

This is also in Wang Chong's plan. What he wants is to accelerate Curry's growth through appropriate pressure.

He is not worried that this will hinder the success of the business.

Who is Curry? One of the strongest players in the league in the future, if he cannot even withstand this kind of pressure, then he will not be able to achieve his future achievements.

Moreover, the pressure Curry can bear in the Bulls is limited. The existence of Wang Chong is destined that no matter what kind of opponent the Bulls face, he will be the most targeted, and the environment for other players will be relatively simple and easy. a lot of.

The subsequent team training also made the Bulls coaching staff and other players understand why Wang Chong values ​​Curry so much.

Curry, who first entered the league, is already 21 years old. He is one of the older players among rookies. He is incomparable to James, Wang Chong, Durant and other players who entered the league around 18 years old.

Here is a little trivia: Durant participated in the draft in 07 and Curry participated in the draft in 09. Durant is fully qualified to call Curry a rookie.

可实际上，1988年3月出生的库里，比88年9月出生的杜兰特还要大6个月。

Curry played in the NCAA for three years in college. His skills are actually very mature and he has distinctive personal characteristics.

During the one-month training camp with Wang Chong, Curry's level improved further.

This has led to Curry's current level being quite high. Even in a single round of offense, Billups at the guard position is not as fierce as Curry's offensive firepower. Especially the pick-and-roll cooperation between Wang Chong and Curry, the offense is quite sharp.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau tried 2v2 confrontation in training, allowing Wang Chong and Curry to face the defensive attacks of Garnett and Billups.

As a result, Wang Chong and Curry easily penetrated the defense of Garnett and Billups.

A DPOY, an All-Defensive Second Team player, and together they couldn't help but add a first-year rookie to Wang Chong. Moreover, Wang Chong was not the main attacker in the offense. Wang Chong also intended to let other people in the team know about Curry. ability, so when the two of them cooperated, Wang Chong gave up more shooting opportunities to Curry.

So the whole team saw Curry's powerful shooting ability from beyond the three-point line.

"Stephen, this kid, is probably as good as Ray Allen in three-point shooting, right?"

After training, Billups couldn't help but praise him.

Billups is a point guard who mainly shoots three-pointers. In his career, Billups has averaged 38.7% three-point shooting per game. He understands Curry's power better than other players.

With this performance, it is more logical for Curry to ascend to the starting position.

Although Thibodeau, who is known for his defense, has reservations about the suggestion of using Curry and Billups to form a dual point guard, just like General Manager Paxson cannot offend Wang Chong, he has led the Bulls to win two consecutive championships. The championship head coach also doesn't want to offend Wang Chong, and there is no need for it.

He absolutely loves the Bulls and Wang Chong now. In NBA history, he is the first person to lead his team to win the championship in his first year as a formal head coach, and in his second year he led the team to an exaggerated record of 73 wins in the regular season. head coach.

In just two years of coaching career, Thibodeau has become recognized as the league's top coach. All of this is thanks to Wang Chong. It was Wang Chong's strong request that the Bulls management fired coach Scott Skye. Ernst, who was still just an assistant coach, was hired as the team's new head coach.

Thibodeau has great trust in Wang Chong. He believes that Wang Chong must have his considerations in letting Curry start in the new season.
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The time has come in October.

The NBA 2009-10 preseason begins as scheduled.

The long-awaited Bulls fans finally saw the first appearance of the Bulls starting lineup in the new season.

On October 2009, 10, at the United Center in Chicago, the Bulls faced the Indiana Pacers at home.

In this preseason game, the Bulls sent Curry, Billups, Wang Chong, Garnett and Gasol into the starting lineup.

There was not much suspense about the result of the game, although because it was a preseason game, the big three of Wang Chong, Garnett and Billups did not play much, only less than 20 minutes.

But the Bulls still defeated the Pacers 114:95 and won their first win of the preseason. Curry's NBA debut surprised many Bulls fans. His offensive ability, especially the three-pointers, greatly exceeded the fans' expectations. In this game, he made 7 of 4 three-pointers. 21 points and 6 assists.

Curry isn't the only one who's doing well for the Bulls.

In the third season of his career, Gasol has grown into the future famous inside white bear of the Grizzlies. His superb inside skills and outstanding basketball IQ allow Gasol to make waves in the penalty area and score 18 points. 12 rebounds were recorded.

In addition, guard Marcus Thornton, who like Curry was acquired by the Bulls in a trade in the 09 draft, also had a highlight performance after coming off the bench, scoring 6 points on 5-of-14 shooting.

Although this was just an unremarkable preseason game, the passion and energy displayed by the Bulls in the game made people feel that the team had a great possibility of successfully defending the title and winning three consecutive championships to create a dynasty.

In fact, the Bulls' external publicity has always focused on three consecutive championships. For the Bulls, who have won two consecutive championships, if they cannot win the championship this season, it will be a failure.

After the first preseason game, a reporter asked Wang Chong a question at the post-match press conference.

"Mr. Wang Chong, after watching today's game, we believe that the Bulls are ready for the new season. Many people are curious, what is the goal of you and the Bulls in the new season? Are you sure of achieving three consecutive championships? Woolen cloth?"

Faced with such a question, Wang Chong's answer was also domineering.

"The Bulls have only one goal, and that is to win the championship. We will definitely win three consecutive championships and create a dynasty. I have full confidence in this."

Wang Chong dared to say this, of course he had enough strength to back it up.

From a personal perspective, after a summer of hard training, Wang Chong's overall ability rating has reached 98. He is currently definitely No. in the league and no one can shake him.

From a team perspective, the Bulls are strong, with experienced veterans Garnett and Billups, as well as high-quality and low-priced outstanding newcomers Curry and Gasol. Their strength is unmatched in the league.

At the same time, other teams in the NBA that can be regarded as opponents have their lineups there. The most threatening one is only the Lakers who got Kidd in the summer. Wang Chong does not think that just by having one more Kidd, the Lakers You can compete with the bull.

Or to put it more bluntly, as long as Kobe can't beat Wang Chong in a direct duel, the Lakers have no chance.

Not even the Lakers, and even less so other teams.

The strength of the Bulls is already at a stage that surpasses all other teams in the league. Even if it is not as good as the five-star Warriors with Durant in the future, it is still in a state of seeking defeat alone.

As if to confirm the authenticity of Wang Chong's words, the Bulls won all subsequent preseason games without exception. Their preseason record was 10 wins and 0 losses, showing full dominance.

This is even when the playing time of the Big Three including Wang Chong is limited to less than 20 minutes.

Originally, most teams in the league felt that after the Bulls sent Millsap, James Jones and Sessions in the draft, the strength of the team's bench lineup would be greatly weakened.

No one expected that Curry would be so useful. One person's offensive firepower could almost equal the three people who were used as bargaining chips to trade for him!
And it's not just Curry who performed well. Marcus Thornton on the bench is like a bench gangster. He has certain attributes of a sharp knife. After a hot shot, his offensive lethality can even be comparable to Curry.

In fact, in the 09-10 season, Marcus Thornton's scoring average ranked fourth among all rookies in the same class, second only to Evans with 20 points, Curry with 17.5 points, and Curry with 15.5 points. Jennings.

But the first three were all top-10 super rookies in the first round, while Thornton was just a little-known second-round pick, and the price-performance ratio was immediately highlighted.

Thornton won't get much playing time with the Bulls.

No way, the Bulls currently have a lot of backcourt players. In addition to the starting Curry and Billups, there is also Danny Green, who can be cultivated into a high-quality 3D player.

Green's level at this time is completely different from Thornton, but in order to allow him to grow up quickly, Wang Chong does not intend to let him sit on the bench. Whenever he has the opportunity, he will be allowed to play to adapt and learn the game.

Therefore, Thornton's playing time should only be about 20 to 25 minutes.

Wang Chong himself didn't plan on Thornton. It would be great if he could help the Bulls score points in his substitute time, but if he can't, it won't affect the current strength of the Bulls.

At the end of the preseason, the Bulls, who have won all 10 games, have undoubtedly become the team at the top of ESPN's new season strength list.

Under the Bulls, there are the Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs and other teams.

On October 2009, 10, the NBA regular season officially started.

The Bulls are at home, and their opponent in the opening game is the powerful San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference.

The 07 championship Spurs have had somewhat unsatisfactory results in the past two years. Although there are three main players in GDP who won the championship, they have been able to win more than 50+ games in the regular season as always.

But in the playoffs, being defeated by the Lakers and Mavericks in two consecutive years is really helpless.

In this era of turbulence and the rise of princes, all the Spurs can do is to continue to lie dormant and wait for the opportunity to rise and win.

The Spurs, who have been unable to break out in the Western Conference, face the Bulls, the league's dominant champions for two consecutive championships. You can imagine how difficult this game will be.

109: 92.

The Bulls got off to a good start with their first win of the new season at home.

But compared to the result of this game, the process was actually more surprising.

The Bulls still use the starting lineup from the preseason, starting with Curry, shooting guard Billups, small forward Wang Chong, power forward Garnett, and center Gasol.

The Bulls' perimeter defense ability in this lineup is weak, especially the height on the back line is obviously insufficient. Curry and Billups are both 1 meters. No matter who appears at the shooting guard position, their height will be at the same height when facing each other. Disadvantages.

But it is only the back line that is at a disadvantage.

The height of the frontcourt combination of Wang Chong, Garnett and Gasol is unique in the entire league, even compared to the Lakers, who have three high inside players. (End of chapter)